


Tell Me It'll Be Okay

by irondad3000



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: My First AO3 Post, My First Work in This Fandom, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, i just want tony and peter to be happy, irondad and spideyson, lets pretend endgame and infinity war didnt happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2020-08-23 10:29:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20241370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irondad3000/pseuds/irondad3000
Summary: Peter Parker has never had stability in his family life.Tony Stark has never been the best at having a family.It's about time they figure out how it works.(or where Tony learns to be a dad and Peter learns to let someone in one last time)





	1. I Need You

**Author's Note:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occassionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm putting a tw here so everyone can see it!!  
there is an implied reference to a suicide attempt throughout the chapter (nothing graphic), and a minor character death that happens "off-book", or before the story begins.  
i want everyone to feel safe before proceeding to read!! my last wish is to make anyone uncomfortable by not providing the appropriate warnings to things that may be uncomfortable or upsetting to anyone!!

_Hey kid. It’s Tony. Listen, I know this has been hard on you. I understand if you’re not ready to talk about it. We’ve all lost loved ones. But I need you to understand that I’m here for _anything_ you may need. Your bedroom is always ready for you, you know that. _

A sigh came out through the speaker of Peter’s phone. He stared at the ceiling in his bedroom - his old bedroom, the one he used to have when his aunt was still around.

_ I’m not the best at being…a parental figure. But I’m trying my best, kid. I want to make sure you’re okay. It’s been 16 days since I last heard from you. I just don’t want to look up at the news and… _

Another sigh. Peter continued to stare.

_ Anyways. It doesn’t matter. The point is you need to come home. _I_ need you to come back home. You’re giving me more gray hairs than I thought I could get. _

A chuckle from the speaker, a quick clearing of the throat, and an awkward silence. Peter lets his eyes close.

_ Just, please…please come home, Pete. I love you. _

His eyes snapped open. He’d listened to that voicemail 184 times in the last 3 hours, 26 minutes, and 15 seconds. The voicemail was 1 minute, 5.39 seconds long. And he never noticed the _I love you_ at the end until just then. How had he missed it? He turned his head over to look at his phone, the voicemail screen up, and pressed play again.

_ Hey kid. It’s Tony. _

He looked back up at the ceiling. He thought that he must have laid here long enough for his outline to be imprinted into the carpet. It had been 16 days since May’s funeral, 14 days since the apartment was emptied, and 18 days since Spider-Man had stopped any bad guys. There were already rumors floating around about what may have happened to the web-slinging hero of Queens, but Peter wasn’t interested. He knew that he had a responsibility as Spider-Man to save the civilians of his city, but he couldn’t bring himself to get up off the floor of his old bedroom.

_ But I’m trying my best, kid. I want to make sure you’re okay. _

How could Peter ever be okay with this? It’s not just that May had died, it had been that there was nothing Peter could have done. The cancer had spread too quickly and they caught it too late. There was no bad guy Peter could have beat up and given a few good extra punches to, there was no physical being to stop from hurting the last relative he had. He had to sit there, hopeless and distraught, and try to help her fight to stay alive and be positive, that they were both going to come out of this alright. He knew it was a lie. He was sure she knew it was a lie, too. But they were fine believing it as long as they needed to.

_ Just, please…please come home, Pete. I love you. _

Peter furiously wiped the tears away from his eyes. He promised May he’d be strong. That’s why he wasn’t going to cry in front of anyone. That’s why he wouldn’t go back to the Tower, to _Tony_, and get help. Because superheroes don’t need help. They need to be strong, whether they think they are or not. Peter knew 13 days ago that he was probably sabotaging the trust he’d built with the city, the faith they had in their favorite crime fighter. Who would trust a hero that hid out for 18 days and let crime run rampant? Certainly no one respectable.

9 days ago he realized that he had probably lost a lot of weight, since he wasn’t eating or drinking. 6 days ago he found an old bottle of pills from May’s room they must have missed as they cleaned the apartment and put them next to his phone. 4 days ago he thought about having a shower, but decided it wasn’t worth getting up off the floor. 2 days ago, he hid from police who got an anonymous tip someone was squatting in the empty apartment, who wrote it off as a mislead from the crazy lady next door claiming she was hearing noises. It was really the sound of Peter sobbing. Yesterday he slept for 19 hours, drifting in and out of consciousness and dreamt of reuniting with his aunt. Today, he accepted his fate as he heard metal clank down on the fire escape outside, sounding like a million miles away, and the warped, worried voice of the man he considered his mentor yelling at paramedics on the phone that they needed to bring an ambulance to his apartment right now. And as he drifted off to unconsciousness in the arms of Tony Stark, he thought that he’d be seeing May again soon, that he didn’t have to wait as long as he thought.

Tony Stark was not about to let his last hope, the kid he had grown to call his son, slip through his fingertips. He knew what this felt like, and he wished that he hadn’t let Peter try to cope on his own for 16 days, and instead comforted him the whole way and never let him out of his sight. “I’m never letting go Peter. I’m never gonna let you go again.” He brushes Peter’s hair softly, rocking him and letting his tears fall freely, the sound of ambulances and fire trucks getting closer and closer. Peter could hear them through the floor as they ran up the stairs, trying to get to his apartment. The paramedics ripped him out of Tony’s arms, attaching wires to him and pumping him with fluids and forcing air back into his lungs. Tony screamed at them as they held him back, trying to push through to get to Peter’s side. He elbowed a guy out of his way and took Peter’s hand, willing for the tiniest bit of movement from him, to let him know he was still alive.

Then, ever so slightly, Peter’s fingers curled around Tony’s, and the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, _father_, completely broke down and dropped to his knees.

His boy was safe for another day.

-

Peter woke up and immediately felt overrun by his senses. He shuddered at how cold the room was, winced at how bright the lights were, and caved into himself.

_ No, no, no, no, no, I'm not ready. I don’t want to go yet, please, no. _

“Pete?” Peter yelped at Tony’s voice, flapping his arm and try to signal to him that it was too much, it was all too much. “Peter? Are you okay?” Tony whispered, reaching out carefully to grab his arm. At first Peter pulled back, the warmth of Tony’s hands feeling like lava on his skin, but he slowly sank into the feeling of Tony’s fingers rubbing up and down slowly on his forearm.

“The lights.” Peter whispered, so quietly Tony barely heard him.

“Okay, okay, I’ll fix it, hold on.” Tony reached over to the table beside Peter’s hospital bed, dimming the lights and bringing down the shades until it was almost completely black in the room. “Better?” Peter nodded his head carefully. They sat in silence for hours that felt like days until Tony finally heard a noise come from Peter.

“Mr. Stark, I’m so sorry,” he sobbed. His body racked with the cries, and he lifted his hands up to his face and wept, unable to contain it anymore. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Stark, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Tony stood up and climbed in the bed next to Peter, cradling him and running his fingers through his hair, shushing him and placing gentle kisses on top of his head. “No, Peter, I’m sorry. Shh, kid, it’s okay, it is all going to be okay, I promise.” As Peter cried, Tony rocked him carefully side to side, trying to hold together the boy who seemed so broken in his arms. “It’s okay, Pete, it’s okay.” After a long time, Peter’s sobs turned to quiet cries, then to sniffles and coughs, his body finally collapsing again from exhaustion. As he slept in Tony’s arms, Tony couldn’t help but wonder how this kid got the worst luck. He sat in that hospital bed, holding Peter against his chest, thinking about how much Peter reminded him of himself when his parents were killed - a broken shell of a kid who just wanted to be in a normal family again. 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter whispered horsely.

“I’m here, kid, I’m right here.”

“Where are we?”

“We’re in the Medbay. The paramedics were going to take you to the hospital and I insisted they bring you here. Not because of Spider-Man, not because I know I have better equipment here, but because I needed you to come home.” Tony said, combing Peter’s hair as he spoke quietly.

“Mr. Stark, I-”

“It’s Tony, kid. Please. We’re there.” Tony said gently.

“Tony, I’m sorry.” Peter whispered, looking down at the IVs in his arms, and at the medical equipment surrounding him.

“You don’t need to be sorry, Peter. In fact, I’m the one who should be sorry. I never should have left you to deal with this alone. I don’t know what I was thinking, assuming this was something you should handle on your own. I should know better than that.”

Peter was quiet for a minute, and then he rasped out, “I just wanted to be with her again.” He reached up and wiped at his eyes. “I didn’t care how I got there. I just wanted to see her.” The cries started up again, not as violent this time, but quiet cries weeping for what could have been the end. “I shouldn’t have done that to you.”

“Peter…” Tony started, then pulled him closer into his chest, letting his own tears fall onto the top of the boys head. “I’m so sorry.” In truth, Tony knew exactly how the kid felt. He had lost his mother and father at a young age, and all he wanted to do was hug his mother again, no matter the cost. It was a dark time in his life, and he didn’t think he’d ever get out of it. But he’d be damned if he didn’t help the kid out of the personal hell he’s sure he’s in. “I’m here for you. Always. You are never going to be alone.” He could feel Peter nod against his chest. “Whatever you need, whenever you need it, no matter where I am or where you’re at, you’ve got it. You know that, don’t you?” Peter nodded again. He took a deep breath in.

“I need you, Tony. More than I want to admit, I need you. You’re all I have left.” he said, turning his head around to look at the man he wanted to be like.

“I need you more.” Tony placed a kiss on the top of Peter’s head. “You’re all I’ve got left, too.”

They sat in silence until the sun rose and a doctor came in to check on Peter. His boy was safe for another day.

-

It had been 3 days since Peter had been discharged from the Medbay. He laid in his bed, his _new_ bed, staring up at the ceiling. The days since he had been allowed to leave had been difficult. He was on a strict calorie intake diet, since he had lost so much while he was gone, and his metabolism worked three times as fast as any normal 17-year-old boy. Secretly he was grateful that Tony was making him eat, getting pizza delivered from his favorite place, making him all the sandwiches he wanted, and letting him eat more than his weight in his favorite foods. His body had suffered in the 16 days he had spent by himself, and it would be a long time until his body felt normal again, but this was a start. He hadn't said thank you yet, though, not because he was ungrateful, but because he was ashamed of everything he had put Tony through. How could a man who had been through hell and back a million and one times over (thanks to Peter) want to help him get better? He had just been a bother, a worry that was on the forefront of Tony's mind for 16 days. An actual missing person that hid from the world with no guilt in it, who had abandoned his job as a superhero to be alone. He couldn't wrap his mind around why Tony would help him.

"Hey, kiddo. It's time to eat again." Tony stuck his head through the door. Peter didn't move. Tony sighed and came inside. "Pete, you've gotta eat, otherwise your body weight is never going to get back up where it needs to be." Peter could feel the space next to his legs dip with Tony's weight as he gently sat down, careful not to plop down on top of his knees. 

"Why are you helping me?" Peter asked, his voice failing him as it quivered. 

"What do you mean 'why am I helping you', I'm helping you because I care about you, Peter." Tony put his hand on his knee. "You're my responsibility now and it's my job to make sure you're okay." Peter slid himself up and put his back against the headboard, looking Tony dead in the eyes.

"I left for 16 days and didn't even think about messaging you or calling you. You found me almost dead, floating in and out of consciousness, in my old apartment. You called for help and then you stayed with me until we came back here and now you're making sure I do something that I should know how to do. Why are you helping me? After everything I did to you?" 

Hearing that broke Tony's heart. He couldn't understand how the kid didn't see how great he was, how amazing it had been for Tony to feel like he had a purpose after the Refugee Avengers left, the blessing Peter had been in his life, and the savior he needed to pull him back from another dark place. He sighed. "Because...I love you, Peter. You're like a son to me, and I want to make sure you're going to be okay." Peter started to look down at his lap but Tony caught his chin and picked it back up. "I heard my voicemail playing. If you had really wanted to give up, you would have deleted it. You would have let your phone die days ahead of that." He let go of Peter's chin and put his hand back on his knee. "You've got fight in you, kid, whether you see it or not. And I'm always gonna be here to fight with you. Always." 

Peter wiped a tear from his eye. "I know."

Tony grunted as he pushed himself off the bed. "Good." He patted Peter on the shoulder, then extended a hand to help him stand. "Let's go eat. I got Chinese take-out."

"Sounds good, Tony." Peter said as he took his hand, hauling himself out of the bed. Tony wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Is your mattress too soft? I felt like I was trying to pull myself out of quicksand trying to get up off that thing. And don't tell me it's because I'm getting old." Tony said. Peter laughed and shook his head.

It was the first time Peter had laughed in weeks, but Tony wasn't going to bring that up. He was just glad to know his boy was safe for another day. 


	2. Help Me Figure It Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occassionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

Three weeks had gone by since Peter wound up in Tony’s care back in the penthouse. It was the first day back from summer break, and Peter didn’t know if he should dread the days surrounded by people he can’t really stand (besides Ned and MJ), or be grateful for a distraction from the increasing feeling of loneliness he got, going on in a world without his aunt. May would have been able to tell him how to feel about all this.

It wasn’t all bad. Peter had his good days, and he certainly had his bad, but he thought that maybe he was starting a good streak. He hadn’t cried in four days, even though he still _felt_ sad, but he was continuing his life. Tony had just gotten him a new laptop for his birthday last week, a top-of-the-line StarkTablet, not even released to the public as of yet. Peter did enjoy the thoughtfulness of the gift, considering the old laptop he used he built from basically scratch after digging it out of a dumpster, but he was not a material person. There was never enough extra money to get new things when he lived with May, they just got by with what they had.

He slid his new StarkTablet into his backpack, and felt a buzz in his pocket. He pulled out his phone to see a text from Ned.

_From: Guy in the Chair hey man. hope everything’s going ok. see u at school?_

_To: Guy in the Chair yeah man. c u soon._

Peter slid his phone back into his pocket and shoved the rest of his notebooks into his backpack. If he could just get through the day, he could come home and rest.

“Hey kiddo. Ready to go?” Tony called from outside Peter’s door.

“Yeah, coming!” Peter yelled back. Hopping out of his bedroom door as he laced his shoes up, he heard Tony groan. He looked up, and was met with disgust written all over Tony’s face. “What?” Peter whined.

“You really like _that_ shirt?” he pointed. Peter looked down at his faded Iron Man t-shirt, a plain black tee with an arc reactor right in the middle of the chest printed on.

“Yeah…I know it’s dumb but May got it for me as a joke last year for my birthday. Figured I’d wear it once so she wouldn’t feel like she wasted the money.”

Tony winced at the answer. He had only meant it to be a joke, not some kind of harassment for being sentimental. _Great_, he thought, _add that to the list of things you can’t do_. “Well, I think it looks nice. If any punk kid tells you you should be wearing a Cap shirt, I’ll mess ‘em up.”

Peter chuckled. “Yeah, sure thing.” Peter wasn’t worried about kids making fun of his shirt. In fact, he wasn’t worried about _kids_ at all, just one. Flash Thompson, Midtown’s resident dickhead, was the only thing Peter was worried about.

Tony ushered Peter into an elevator down to the garage, grabbed a pair of keys to a red Audi R8 off the long rack hanging up by the door, and sped off towards Midtown, barely getting Peter to the curb before the first period bell rang out.

“I’ll get here earlier tomorrow, promise, I know you like hanging out with Ted.” Tony called after him as he made his way to the front doors.

“It’s Ned!” Peter yelled over his shoulder as Tony drove away. He turned his head back around and almost ran smack into Ned’s back. “Whoa!”

Ned turned around, and quickly enveloped Peter in a hug. Peter put his arms back around his best friend, missing the way it felt to be hugged by someone he cared so much about. “I missed you.” Ned said quietly.

“I know. I missed you, too. But we gotta get to class or else we’re screwed for good first impressions.” Peter said, initiating their handshake as they made their way towards Chemistry.

Chemistry had always been easy for Peter. It came to him as natural as getting food when you’re hungry, or sleeping when you’re tired. For Peter, chemistry was something to do when he was bored. He developed his web fluid in one night, using an advanced textbook he found online from some small European country that he had to translate on Google Translate. He answered the teacher’s questions with ease, barely looking up from his notebook as he raised his hand.

“Nerd.” he heard someone cough, allowing the kids around him to start chuckling. He looked up to meet Flash’s eyes, the kid grinning devilishly at him. Peter sighed and put his head back down, continuing his note taking, while also making notes to alter his web fluid in the margins. Before he knew it, the second period bell was ringing, and the class was rushing towards the hall and their lockers to pack up and move on. Peter and Ned stopped at Peter’s locker briefly to drop off a textbook and pick up a snack, when Peter was shoved into the lockers.

“Hey Penis Parker. Have a good summer?” Flash asked him, his posse starting to chuckle. Peter turned around slowly, knowing where this was going. “Oh wait, you couldn’t have, because your aunt died, right?” Peter felt his jaw tighten, the knuckles on his hand turning white from how hard he was gripping his textbook. “She probably just wanted to be rid of such a know-it-all dickwad, right Penis?”

Before Peter could stop himself, Flash was on the ground, blood spewing from his nose. Peter looked down at a closed fist, someone of Flash’s blood still on his knuckles. His jaw dropped open and he turned and looked at Ned, who was staring at the kid on the floor, wailing in pain.

“Peter what did you do?” Ned asked, looking up at his fist, still closed tightly.

“Mr. Parker!” _Fuck_, Peter thought. He looked up to see Principal Morita walking quickly to where the crowd had gathered in the hallway. “My office. _Now_. Mr. Henderson, can you please help Flash to the nurse?” He asked of a teacher, trying to get the kids to move on through the hall. Peter got yanked as Mr. Morita grabbed the shoulder of his t-shirt and half-dragged, half-walked him towards his office.

“Better watch your fucking back, Parker!” he heard Flash yell.

-

“Mr. Parker, I don’t care _how_ the situation arose, I care about the student who’s _nose_ you just broke. I understand it’s been difficult since your aunt passed, but I have never known you to be a violent kid. I’m going to have to suspend you, I need to know who to contact for you.”

Peter threw his head back and sighed. “Tony Stark.” he mumbled as he picked his head back up.

“Peter, this is not a time for jokes. I need to know who your dependent is.”

“I said, it’s Tony Stark. Here.” He wrote Tony’s number down on a piece of paper he ripped off of his Chemistry syllabus. He slid it across the desk. Mr. Morita gave him a look of frustration, but took the number from him anyway and dialed.

“You’ve got Stark here. What’s the deal?” Peter could hear through the speaker. He smirked as he watched Morita’s eyes go big, then immediately fell back into a pit of frustration as he thought about what Tony was going to say to him.

“Mr. Stark? This is Principal Morita at Midtown. I’m going to need you to come down here and get Mr. Parker.”

In his penthouse, Tony sat up from his reclined position on the couch. “Is everything okay? Is Peter hurt?” He could physically feel his blood pressure rising and his heart rate increasing. He couldn’t have Peter hurt on the first day of school.

“The opposite, actually, sir. It seems Peter here _did_ the hurting.”

Back in the office, Peter closed his eyes and rested his head in his hand. He hadn’t _meant_ to punch Flash, in fact he hadn’t thought of it at all. It was just an impulse, and although he had wanted to do it for a very long time, he immediately felt guilty after watching Flash collapse to the floor, holding his nose. He was just lucky he didn’t _kill_ the kid, just broke his nose. He knew his superstrength was still working it’s way back up to full potential, but he still had enough juice to seriously injure a kid like Flash, not just break his nose. He decided that would be his defense after Tony would yell at him for punching another kid.

Another fifteen minutes went by for Tony to show up, a lot sooner than Peter had expected, knowing the man would speed through town to get there, but fifteen minutes must have meant he was flying, maybe literally. He doubted he would have to be dragged home as Tony flew in the suit, but he also wouldn’t put it past him.

“Mr. Stark, it’s nice to see you.” Mr. Morita said, standing up to shake Tony’s hand.

“Wish it was under different circumstances.” Tony grumbled, not even looking at Peter. “So what’s the time, Jim, can I call you Jim?”

Beads of sweat appeared on Morita’s forehead, before chuckling and stuttering over his words. “S-Sure, of course, wh-whatever you want to call me, Mr. Stark, sir.” Peter rolled his eyes.

“What exactly is Peter’s punishment, Jim?” Tony pressed, ignoring whatever “fanboy mess” was happening in front of him, as Peter called it.

“Peter will have a two-week suspension, and he will be unable to compete on the Decathalon team this year.”

“What?” Peter sat up, clearly upset by the latter part of Mr. Morita’s decision. “No, I’m vice captain this year, you can’t do that.”

“Actually, Mr. Parker, I can.” Mr. Morita glared at Peter.

“So Flash can make fun of my _dead aunt_ and get to stay on the Decathalon team, and make fun of me _all year_, but _I’m_ the one getting kicked off the team?”

“Peter, sit down.” he felt a hand slightly gripping his upper arm. He looked down at Tony, concern written in his furrowed brows. He hadn’t even realized he had stood up and made a step towards Mr. Morita’s desk. “Jim, we’ll be in contact later. I think that I need to take Peter home now.”

“Yes…I agree. I’ll be in touch.” Mr. Morita looked warily at Peter. Tony stood, shook his hand, and guided Peter outside to his car.

“Peter, what happened?” he said after driving for some time. Peter’s hands were visibly shaking, clenching and unclenching his fists.

“Don’t worry about it, Tony.” he grumbled, trying to be calm.

“No, Peter, I’m not going to ‘not worry about it’, you’re clenching your fucking fists right now!” Tony’s voice raised, and he saw Peter tense up in the passenger seat. They pulled into the garage and Peter quickly got out of the car. He started pacing, and he just felt _angry_, angrier than he’d felt in a long time.

“Tony, I just, I-” Peter let out a long sigh, pulling on his hair. “I need to punch something.” he blurted out, looking at Tony.

“Alright, punch me.” Tony said nonchalantly, squaring his stance up and planting his feet.

“What, Tony, no, I’m not, I can’t-”

“Punch me. Full force. Don’t hold back.” Tony cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck.

“Tony, I-”

“Do it, Peter!” he yelled.

Peter pursed his lips and right as his fist was about to make contact with Tony’s raised arm, the Iron Man suit formed around him. As Peter pulled his hand back, he saw a fist sized dent in the forearm. Tony’s helmet came off as he inspected the armor.

“Well shit, kid.” he looked up at Peter. “Feel better?”

“Yeah.” Peter breathed out.

“Let me show you the gym.” Tony said as he began pulling up the information from the database and making notes. 


	3. Days Gone By

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occassionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

The moment Peter stepped into the gym, he felt ready to get to work. Maybe this is what he needed to stop feeling so upset all the time, a place to physically get all of his grief out.

It looked like a playhouse of all things sports, including an Olympic length pool with blocks and diving platforms, a boxing ring with multiple sets of gloves, and three bays of virtual golf simulators with top-of-the-line club sets.

“Tony, this is…incredible.” Peter said, looking around but feeling pulled toward the boxing ring.

“Doesn’t get as much use as I’d like it to get these days.” Tony said, still looking at something on his holographic screen. “Let me check something real fast, kid, come stand in front of me.”

Peter cocked an eyebrow, but planted himself squarely in front of Tony, then snapped his eyes shut as a bright blue light scanned him up and down. “Jesus, Tony.”

“Sorry, should have given you a warning. Take a look around for a minute, do whatever you like. This is probably the only place besides the kitchen I give you 100% full access.” Tony paused. “I take back the kitchen, you did burn a Kraft mac-and-cheese cup the other day because you forgot to put water in it.”

“Hey,” Peter whined. “I said I was sorry. I _really _thought I had put the water in it.”

“I’m not saying I didn’t accept your apology. I’m just saying that our kitchen is gonna smell like burnt dry pasta for the next month every time you use the microwave.” Tony chuckled.

Peter grinned at the phrase “_our_ kitchen”. He liked the feeling of the place where he was living be addressed as theirs, both his and Tony’s, not just Tony’s and a permanent guest. He ventured over to the golf simulators, looking through some sets of clubs and taking some practice swings. May used to take him to the driving range when he was younger, but they hadn’t been in so long. Every time the idea was entertained it was taken up by an extra hospital shift, or a certain “Spidey-Situation”, as May had always called it. He always thought that if he _hadn’t_ been bitten by a radioactive spider, he’d go out for the golf team, but super strength led to “non-athletic involvement”, as thoroughly enforced by Tony and May both, so instead he did decathlon.

He pulled out a Titleist 718 7-iron, plastic wrap still covering the head. He broke it off and turned on the simulator, taking some warm-up swings to loosen up his back and arms. He hadn’t hit golf balls in so long, he wondered if he was still any good. _70% swings_, he thought to himself. Making contact with the ball felt like butter on toast, a pure swing going a clean 230 yards. He thought maybe the yardage was a fluke, he was barely hitting the ball, but five shots yielded the same result. Most professionals didn’t even hit their 7-iron 200 at full speed, much less 230 at 70%. Peter put the club back in the bag, thinking about how it was a good thing he never went back to the range. It was far too obvious he was stronger than the average 17-year-old.

While Peter was milling around, Tony was looking at statistics, measurements, anomalies, _anything_ to explain Peter’s violent outburst. The Internet had barely yielded anything that could help him _fix_ the problem, and his vitals…well his vitals could use some work. His blood pressure had spiked multiple times throughout the day, and his heart rate hit its peak around 10am, probably right around the time he sucker punched that Flash kid. Another jolt in the heart rate happened just a few minutes prior, right around when he had yelled at the kid to punch him, but after the spikes, the heart rate almost instantly fell back to an average rate.

Maybe the kid had tried to be strong for too long, and all this bottling up of emotion was going to undoubtedly lead to some outbursts. In fact, Tony _knew_ this was the case. Peter had obviously felt better after the short episodes, no matter how guilty they made him feel afterwards. Tony didn’t know when the best time would be to bring up the Spider-Man issue, seeing as he’d had some of his own suits manning the crime scene in Queens, but the kid had no outlet anymore. Maybe he wasn’t ready to go back into the field, but he _did_ need a temporary escape to let go of some of his emotions, and spending some time down here wasn’t a bad idea.

“Find anything you like?” Tony called, looking up to see Peter walking away from the golf simulators. He glanced back at it wistfully, but turned back to Tony with arms outstretched.

“I think it’s all great, Tony.”

“Well, glad to hear it. I want you to spend some quality time down here. Every day. Weights, running, swimming, boxing, whatever you want to do, but I need you in here a couple hours at _minimum_ during the day after school, sound good?” Tony asked, collapsing all of his data and putting his small tablet on a nearby table.

Peter nodded his head, taking another look around the room. “Yeah, okay. Sounds good.”

“Good. Let’s get you some food.”

-

Tony let Peter spend the rest of the day how he pleased, not exactly feeling the correct amount of rapport with Peter to ground him just yet. To his satisfaction (and frankly, relief), the teenager spent most of the rest of the day in the gym downstairs, leaving Tony to himself. He still didn’t understand where his role with Peter stood. Clearly, he was his guardian now, and they had a good mentor/mentee relationship, but he didn’t know when he was supposed to feel like family instead of permanent babysitter. He looked at his StarkPhone, a picture of him and Pepper lighting up the lockscreen.

It was a picture of them from the early stages of their relationship. Tony had planned a picnic in Central Park, cheesy as it is, but it was something Pepper had always wanted to do. He never thought of himself as a romantic until he met Pepper, and he wanted to hang the moon for her, whatever it took. So he planned a big, extravagant picnic, made all the food himself (with a little help from Rhodey), packed a bottle of her favorite white wine and took her hand as he led her to his car. It was a leisurely drive into the city, and they found themselves a quiet spot under a big oak tree. Tony even got the red and white checkered blanket for them to sit on.

The picture was of Pepper laying with her head in Tony’s lap, eyes closed and a smile on her face. Tony had one arm behind him propping him up, the other with his fingers in her hair, smiling down at her. Rhodey had taken it of the two of them when he “coincidentally ran into them”, and it had been the only picture Tony would use as a screensaver for anything. He loved how young they looked, how in love they were, how comfortable they looked, like they didn’t have a care in the world.

He picked up his phone and called Pepper, having felt like ages since he’d heard her voice. One ring, then two, and a third before she picked up.

“Hi, Tony, how are you, love?” Pepper said through the phone. Tony could feel his heart melting.

“I’m doing alright, Pep.” Tony sighed with content. “I miss you.” he whispered.

“I miss you, too. I’ll be home soon, I promise, I just really didn’t expect the preparations for this project to take so long. What’s on your mind?”

Tony chuckled. She always knew. “You remember how I took Peter in, after…”

“Yes, I remember.” Pepper sighed. “I do miss her.”

“We all do. Well, Peter got into an…altercation…at school today.” Pepper gasped on the other end of the line. “And it was _him_ who initiated it.”

“That doesn’t sound like him, Tony.”

“I know. So I’ve been wracking my brain all day about what it is, and I know he hasn’t gone out on patrol in a while, and I don’t think I should press that, right?”

Pepper was quiet for a moment, obviously thinking carefully before answering. “It’s tough. On the one hand, a masked web-slinging hero suddenly dropping duties is something the city won’t miss, but on the other, Peter’s just gone through another extremely traumatic event. He simply just may not be ready yet to go back out and do that. Wait a few more days, and see if he brings it up. He might feel guilty for going back to something ‘regular’ without his aunt around. It might feel, to him, like he’s leaving her behind.”

Tony hummed in agreement. “You’re right as always, my love.” Pepper’s light laugh made his heart flutter. “Thank you, for listening.”

“Always, Tony. I- Oh, someone’s pulling me into a meeting. I’ll be home soon. I love you.”

“I love you more.” Tony said before the call ended. He sighed and placed his phone back down next to him on the couch, the lockscreen lighting up again. He couldn’t help but smile as he looked down at the picture, remembering the warmth of the sun in her hair and the way the gentle breeze felt against his face. Two kids young and in love.

Whatever happened to those days?

-

Peter took a good, long, hard look at the everything Tony’s personal gym had to offer. He dipped his feet into the pool, enjoying the warm-ish temperature it had to it. He tried on the boxing gloves and gave a few good hits to a sorry punching bag. He even wandered over to the bowling alley, just for the hell of it, but the golf simulator kept calling to him over his shoulder like a gnat buzzing in his ear.

He eventually gave up trying to ignore it and found his way back in the bay, hitting ball after ball with the T-718 irons. He worked through every club in the bag, taking the plastic off of all of them, and never felt an ounce of exhaustion. The next time he looked at the time on his phone, eight hours had passed and he had missed dinner with Tony, as it was nearing 11pm. He quickly put all the clubs back the way he found them and crept his way back upstairs.

Upon reaching the penthouse level, Tony was nowhere to be found, so Peter tiptoed quietly to his room. A quick shower, shave, and pajama change led him to his bed. He crawled under the covers, looking around the room that still didn’t totally feel like his. He had brought a few things he was able to salvage from his old apartment, a blanket May had gotten him for his seventh birthday with the periodic table on it, some things to put on the new desk Tony had ordered for him, and his clothes, and although Tony had made it clear this room was _his_, it just didn’t _feel_ that way.

He turned his phone on to look at his lockscreen. It was a picture of him and May, cuddled up on the couch, his head resting on her shoulder, with Star Wars playing on the television. Ned had taken it and sent it to him, and even though Peter had called him creepy at the time, he secretly loved the picture. It showed the two of them in their most natural state, completely comforted by the presence of one another. Peter wiped a quiet tear from his eye as he smiled at the memories of movie nights, some with Ned and MJ and some without.

The smell of buttery popcorn, the taste of dark chocolate M&M’s, and the feeling of that periodic table blanket always made him feel at home, because his home was May. He did miss her, but he knew deep down that she wouldn’t want him to feel sad that she was no longer here, but happy that they got the time that they did together. _You’re my sunshine, now and forever_, she used to say to him. _Now and forever_. Peter finally felt at peace with everything. He let out a long sigh and cried silent, happy tears. He knew May was with him, always, and he no longer felt sad.

He got the best gift of all living with her and growing up with her. He got happiness. And now it was his turn to give that to love and happiness to someone else. Maybe that someone else could be Tony.


	4. New Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occassionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!  


Peter awoke the next day feeling like a heavy weight had been lifted off of his chest. His epiphany the night before had led him to looking at this life without May in an entirely new perspective. Sure, his days with his aunt had come and gone much too soon, but he spent so many wonderful years with her, made so many memories. Now it was time for him to make new memories with Tony, someone May had trusted deeply and that Peter had looked up to since he was a young kid. He'd finally accepted his grief and intended on living the rest of his days as fully as May had. 

He sat up and stretched, pushing himself up to put his back against the cool headboard. He looked around at his bedroom again, and made the decision it was time to decorate. This _was_ going to be his room now, so he might as well go all out. He brushed his teeth, messed with his hair a bit, put on a pair of jeans from his dresser and a t-shirt he had found in the laundry room, and made his way to the kitchen.

The MIT logo had long faded into the material, but the shirt looked brand new on Peter. Tony smiled at the sight, and sat up a little straighter as Peter sauntered up to the fridge and pulled out some chocolate milk.

“I see you found one of my t-shirts.” Tony chuckled. Peter turned around to him, pulling at the bottom hem of the shirt to look at the center logo.

“Oh, yeah, I hope you don’t mind me wearing it, I just found it in the laundry room. If you want it back it’s no prob-”

“No, keep it. It looks good on you. I haven't been to the laundry room in so long I almost forgot I had it.” Tony smiled as he stood. “You look like…a whole new man.”

Peter grinned and looked at his socked feet as he blushed. “Come on, Tony.” he muttered.

“So you're completely dressed and scrubbed up and it’s only…" Tony glanced at his watch. "Ten in the morning. Did you have plans for the day?” Tony asked, reaching for the coffee pot.

“I was actually wondering,” Peter paused as he downed half of his glass. “If you wouldn’t mind taking me to get some stuff for the- for _my_\- bedroom.” he finished, wiping his mouth with his wrist and setting his cup in the sink. “I just thought it was time to make it more…homey, you know?” he trailed off.

“Well, of _course_, kid, why didn’t you say something sooner? I could have made that room a replica of the inside of the Death Craft or whatever you call it from, what is it War Stars?”

Peter smacked his forehead and started waving his hands wildly as Tony smirked behind the lip of his coffee mug. “Tony, I’ve told you like a million times, it’s the Death _Star_ from _Star Wars_. Anyway, I guess it just kind of hit me last night that this is my home now. The penthouse and the gym and the lab and…” Peter grew quiet, not sure if he could say what he wanted out loud. He looked up at Tony and saw him waiting for him to finish his thought. “…and you.” he sighed.

Tony set his mug down and walked over to where Peter was holding himself up at the sink, and brought him into a tight embrace. “I’m _honored_ to be a part of what home is for you, Peter.” He gripped the back of his old MIT shirt tighter, seeing his last name stitched into the back of the collar by his mother's hand. There was never a doubt in his mind that Peter was part of his family, and his fit in the shirt only proved it further.

“Okay.” Tony cleared his throat, clapping Peter’s back as they both made manly coughs to make up for the moment of emotion they just had, chuckling as they did so. “Let’s turn your room into the Death Craft.” Tony said as he made his way to the elevator.

“It’s the Death _Star_, and that was totally your idea!” Peter yelled as he jogged to catch up to him.

* * *

As they made their way around IKEA, Peter became extremely aware of how little Tony decorated his own place. Tony had glanced at some rugs and framed pictures, touched a couple sets of bedsheets, and picked up some trinkets, but hadn’t put anything in the cart. Not that Peter could be any advocate for putting anything into the cart, his past life of getting by with the bare minimum was still greatly etched into his mindset, despite Tony assuring him he could pick up anything he wanted.

“I know I _can_, Tony, I just haven’t seen anything I’ve fallen in love with yet.”

“It’s not a marriage, kid, it’s a comforter. If you don’t end up liking it we can always buy another.” Tony shook his head.

“Well what about you? You keep going to look at stuff and you haven’t picked anything out at all! At least I picked out a bath mat.”

“Decorating was always Pep’s thing. I was going to let her decorate when she got back. And we’ve only been here about three hours and that’s all you’ve picked up.” Tony ruffled Peter’s hair. “I’m going to end up hiring a personal decorator and you’re going to _hate _it.” he chuckled.

“Okay, okay, I’ll start committing. What do you think of this for the bed set?” Peter pointed at a red and blue striped set that came with plain red and plain blue sheets, and white pillow cases with a few red and blue lines to accent.

Tony nodded. “I like it, it almost _screams_ Peter.” Peter shook his head laughing, making a movement to put it back, but Tony snatched it out of his hands. “Commitment, Pete. We’re getting it.”

Peter threw his hands up in surrender. “Okay. But now I have to put the bath mat back because it doesn’t match. Those are the rules.” Tony threw his head back and groaned.

“You are just as bad as Pepper.” he said as he gave Peter a little push to his shoulder. Peter pushed him back, and to anybody looking on at them, they seemed as natural a pair as anyone could have put together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow.  
hello everyone! i realize i owe an explanation for my verrryyyyyy long absence.  
my computer got stolen while i was at school and after putting up a reward and searching for a couple weeks, it never turned up. i was only just able to purchase a new one a couple days ago after pretty much obliterating my bank account, and i realize i owe you all a LOT of irondad/spiderson content. hopefully this fluff-filled chapter helps support my apology.  
i will be back trying to give you guys regular updates again and make up for the long break!!


	5. Together Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occassionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

Tony had never enjoyed decorating. Truth be told he never got a chance to decorate a space of his own because it was always done for him. His mother had laid out his childhood bedroom, an interior designer had done his space in college, and Pepper had done some decorating after she moved in before leaving for the conference. Minimalist was always his go-to for decorating, but unloading bags and carts of things for Peter’s room gave him a sense of childlike excitement. Of course, Peter’s excitement was still _actually_ childlike.

“Tony, this room is going to look so cool!‌ I really wish you’d have let us get some stuff for the rest of the loft, but this is…this is amazing.”‌ Peter went on. Tony looked over and was met with glistening hazel eyes brimming with gratitude. “I know I haven’t said it enough, but thank you, Tony. For everything.”

Tony clapped him on the shoulder. “You know I’d do anything for you, kid. Now let’s decorate, right after I change.”‌ he said, giving a little jazz hands to emphasize. Peter shook his head laughing, pulling things out of bags and laying them on the bed as Tony jogged out of the room. Peter had noticed Tony shying away from emotional moments lately, but he had just shrugged it off as it being an adjustment. It was an adjustment for the both of them. Maybe Peter was just ready to have a parental figure again and Tony was still getting used to having a teenager to look after. “Ahem.”

“Tony, oh my God.”‌ Peter broke out in laughter, hardly able to contain himself with the sight in front of him. Clad in navy blue short runner’s shorts and a “Spidey’s Biggest Fan” t-shirt, Tony gave him a twirl.

“Eh? What do you think?” Tony asked, arms outspread.

“I- I love it.” Peter got out in between laughs. “But I _never_ want to see your legs again after this. Especially not above the knee, you’re pasty as all-”

“As all hell, I know, Pepper wants me to go on vacation to Tahiti with her to ‘even it out’.” he put in air-quotes. “Let’s put on some tunes and get started. FRIDAY, give me some old school.”

“On it, Boss.” the ceiling echoed, and _Shoot to Thrill_ came on over the speakers.

“Led Zepplin, nice!” Peter said, bopping his head and pulling some paint out.

“Kid.”‌ Tony said. Peter stopped and looked over. “This is AC/DC.”

“Oh…”‌ Peter whispered.

“I’m gonna forget that happened. Come on.” he said, grabbing a paint brush from one of the bags and opening up the paint can with a miniature‌ Swiss Army knife from Peter’s desk.

Peter had opted for a blue and red theme for the bedroom, pulling up different paint designs for the bedroom and showing them to Tony, putting up the tape and drawing out the designs. It wasn’t Spidey-themed, per se, but Peter was starting to let himself become familiar with it again. If he was being honest, he’d thought about pulling out the suit and fiddling with some of the mechanics of it, just to grow accustomed to it. He couldn’t bring himself to put the suit on, not yet, but he wanted to work with it again.

A couple of hours had passed and the pair had finished the painting process. Crossed red and blue lines on the white wall, overlapping and varying in thickness, their outcome would rival that of a wallpaper design. Now Tony was on the floor putting together a new bed frame with drawers and bookshelves built in under and around the frame itself, and Peter was putting pictures in frames and hanging them up on the walls. They’d since changed the music to some more modern R&B-esque music, the likes of Khalid, John Mayer, and Vance Joy mixed in. Hozier’s _Jackie and Wilson_ was at an obscenely loud volume as the boys sang along when they heard a voice from the door.

“Well don’t the two of you look like busy bees.”‌

Tony looked up and dropped his screwdriver as he scrambled to get off the floor. Pepper laughed as he tackled her in a hug, whispered something in her ear, and kissed her for what Peter felt like was an eternity. He cleared his throat and made his way over to the pair.

“Hi, Ms. Potts, it’s nice to see you again.”‌ he said as he wrapped her in a hug.

“Oh, hon, we both know you can call me Pepper.” she said, running her fingers through his hair as she rubbed his back. Peter sunk into her touch. May used to do the same thing when she hugged him. He sighed as he stood up straight again, and let Tony go back to wrapping his arms around her, kissing her temple. “So, what can I help with?” she asked, playfully trying to push Tony away.

“Well, I’m just putting some pictures and things up. Tony’s working on the bed frame. There’s really not much left, I just need to go put the sheets in the wash and put them on the bed, that’s really it.”‌ Peter said, rubbing the back of his head, catching a look from Tony that very clearly meant _let her be involved_. “I, uh, you can help me put pictures up, I’m really bad at placement and whatnot.”

Pepper smiled kindly at him. “Of course, Peter, I’m just going to get out of this pantsuit and then I’ll be back.” Tony pulled her back by her hand and kissed her one more time. Pepper laughed into the kiss then playfully hit his shoulder. “Anthony.” she chuckled, turning to go to their bedroom.

“Well, kid, sorry you had to-”

“PDA, Tony!” Peter half-yelled, laughing as he did so. “Thought I was going to have to go casually remove my eyeballs during all that, jeez.” Tony gave him a gently punch to the arm.

“I was going to apologize, but after that, no way. I should be making you put this bed frame together.”‌ Tony tossed him the screwdriver, but Peter just tossed it back to him.

“Sorry, Tones, I’m on picture duty with Pepper.” Peter shrugged, laying out his pictures and posters on the bed. He had gotten a couple of old movie posters to hang up, the original _Star Wars _trilogy being the obvious choice.

Tony smirked at Peter’s new nickname for him, and Pepper ruffled his hair as she walked past him to get to Peter’s bed.

“Okay, Peter, I think that you should put the smaller pictures in between the posters…” Tony stopped listening to what exactly she was saying as he looked at the two of them from his seat on the floor. Peter was looking up at her from the bed, where he was sitting legs criss-crossed, chin in his hands. Pepper was holding a picture up to the wall, showing Peter what it would look like. Tony took his phone out and took a quick picture of the two of them. It was such a domestic scene he couldn’t believe how seamlessly Pepper had just come in and taken her place. Tony always compared her to the stars, coming and going but always finding her place back where she needed to be. He admired the picture a second more then tucked his phone away back in his pocket.

“Tony?‌ Which one do you think should go on top?” Peter asked. Tony pushed himself off the floor and walked over, putting a hand around Peter’s shoulders as he looked at the photographs.

* * *

Once the room was officially put together the way Peter wanted it, it was nearing midnight and Peter could sense the exhaustion exuding from Pepper.

“Thank you guys so much for your help. I think it looks so great.”‌ Peter smiled. Tony, with his arms wrapped around Pepper from behind hummed in agreement as Pepper nodded, trying to conceal a yawn.

“I’m glad you like it, Pete. And Pepper’s too nice to say it, but she needs to get put to bed. We’ll see you in the morning, kiddo. Goodnight.” Tony said, Pepper waving goodnight to him through a big yawn. Peter smiled at the duo in his doorway, turning to close the door behind them. Once the door was shut Peter took a quick shower and put on a pair of pajamas. He picked up a picture from his attached bedside table and looked at it longingly. It was a picture of him and May and his Uncle Ben when he had first been placed in their custody. They took him to a small traveling theme park, and Peter was up on Ben’s shoulders, eyes closed mid-laugh, holding a small bag of cotton candy. Ben was looking down at May and May had her head thrown back in laughter as well, their hands intertwined. May had asked someone to take their picture, and right before the person clicked the button, Ben had told some joke that made the three of them laugh out loud.

Peter smiled solemnly at the photograph, placing it back on his nightstand. Today had been great with Pepper and Tony, but it wasn’t his old life. It was good, but still different. He had only just started to get settled with Tony being in his life permanently, and now Pepper had been thrown back into the mix now that she was back from her conference. He crawled under his covers and looked up at his wall. In the middle of the picture gallery he and Pepper had hung was a picture of him and Tony the day he got his Stark Internship “diploma”, as Tony called it. May had taken the picture of the two of them, arms around each other, each holding one side of the framed paper. It was the proudest Peter had ever felt, and one of the best days of his life. He smiled fondly. He was where he was supposed to be now.

* * *

Tony watched Pepper as she climbed into bed, pulling her close to him. “I missed you.” he said into her collarbone, holding her tight. He could feel her fingers in his hair, gently playing with the curls.

“I missed you, too.” she said into the top of his head, placing a gently kiss there.

“I thought you weren’t going to back for a couple more weeks.”‌ Tony said, rolling off her and propping himself up on his side to look at her.

“I just sort of left.” she chuckled, turning to face him. “Not very responsible of me, I know, but I wanted to come home.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”‌ Tony said, smiling at her.

“Mm. Me too.” she whispered, eyes shut and her breath slowing. Tony bent down and gently kissed her head, then rolled over to grab his phone.

He pulled up the picture of Pepper and Peter from earlier. He couldn’t stop staring at how serene it was. After staring at it a minute longer, he went into his settings and went to the wallpaper options. He looked at the picture of him and Pepper on the lock screen, and decided to leave it there. He put the new picture of the kid he always thought of as a son and the love of his life as his home screen, that he honestly saw a lot more of anyways. Peter was a part of his life now just as much as Pepper, and he felt he needed to honor that. So for the first time in God knows how long, he made a change. He clicked “Save” on the screen and smiled at his new background. The two most important people in his life back together at last, Tony felt more complete than he had in a long time. His little family was starting to come together.


	6. Come Hell or High Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occassionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

_Peter…_

Peter turned around in a dark room, not knowing what was around him. He closed his eyes, desperately trying to get his Spidey-sense to kick in, but it wouldn't.

_Peter!_

Peter jumped at the sheer increase of volume of the disembodied voice, the sound of anger more and more present with each passing second. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it. He looked down, hoping to see the suit wrapped around him, but he was in regular clothes. His webshooters weren’t clasped to his wrist, and his Spidey-sense was tapped out. It was just him against the darkness.

“Who’s there?” he called out, failing to hide a quiver in his voice.

The disembodied voice chuckled. _Oh, Peter. You don’t recognize me?_ The voice echoed around the room. Peter swung his head around, trying to find any indication of a person in the room, or a sense of where he could be. The voice clicked it’s tongue. _How disappointing. You should be ashamed_.

“Show yourself! Quit hiding from me!” Peter yelled, curling his hands into fists. He was going through the mental catalog in his head of everyone he knew, which wasn't very many, so why couldn’t he place this voice?

One step. Another step. Echoing in the room. Peter bent his knees and raised his hands up slightly, putting himself into a fighting stance. “Peter.” Peter whipped around behind him, and dropped his hands to his side, his mouth agape.

“D-Dad?” Peter cocked his head to the side, looking at the man he only really knew from pictures. He stood tall and brave, a look of disappointment in his eyes, arms crossed in front of him. He reached a hand out to him, and suddenly the person in front of him disappeared and another voice came from behind him.

“Oh, Petey…” Peter span around again, tears brimming in his eyes. As beautiful as every picture ever showed her, a small, forced smile on her lips as she crossed her hands in front of her.

“Mom…” Peter took two steps toward her, wanting to hug her, but she was gone as soon as she was there.

“Pete-man.” Peter turned his head to the side to see his Uncle Ben, arms extended to the side, kindness in his eyes but a sad smile on his face. He reached towards him, choking back an audible cry for the people he loved, but he, too, disappeared as quickly as he’d come.

“Peter?” Peter took a deep breath, not ready to face who he knew was behind him. Silent tears streamed down his face as he slowly turned on his heel.

“May.” he choked out, not wanting to get any closer to her. She’d already left him once, he was afraid by moving she’d leave him again.

“Peter, honey.” she ran towards him, enveloping him in a hug. Stunned, it took Peter a second to hesitantly wrap his arms around her. She put her fingers in his hair, and then disappeared from his arms. He couldn’t hold back the tears any more now. He dropped down to his knees.

_Look at all the people you’ve let down Peter. Look at everyone you’ve ever loved, gone from your life. And it’s _your _fault._

Peter furiously shook his head. “It’s not my fault.” Peter choked out, anger rising in the pit of his stomach. He put a hand on the ground and pushed himself back up to a standing position.

_Of _course_ it’s your fault, Peter. They’d still be here if it wasn’t your fault. _

Peter continued to shake his head, reminding himself that these things were out of his control. Car accidents, heart attacks, cancer, none of that was his fault.

“Kiddo.” Peter looked up, making eye contact with Tony, seeing nothing but fear in his eyes. “Kid…” he said quieter, shaking his head, taking steps back from him. Peter stepped towards him, reaching out a hand, but Tony just pulled away from him, turning around and running into the darkness.

_You’ve disappointed your only family, and now you’ve scared away the only person who would take you in_. _Look at your so-called friends_.

Peter turned his head to the right, seeing MJ and Ned standing next to each other, whispering to one another in fearful whispers, backing away slowly.

_You’ve pushed your friends away, with your inability to cope, and your inability to make time for them. You’ve let them down. That can’t feel good_.

Suddenly everyone showed back up, surrounding Peter, all speaking to him at once.

“How could you do this to us?” his parents said, clasping hands as blood ran down their foreheads. Injuries from the car accident.

“You left us alone, Peter.” MJ and Ned spat at him.

“You promised me, Pete.” his aunt said, looking as sickly as she did the day she passed.

“You weren’t there, Pete-man.” his uncle said, clutching at his chest.

“You _lied_ to me, kiddo.” Tony said, rubbing his eyes. “It’s not working out.”

Peter looked around frantically, back on that rooftop, the Iron Man suit behind Tony.

“I’m gonna need the suit back. And your stuff out of my place.” Peter looked down at his suit, and back up at Tony, who wouldn’t even make eye contact with him.

“Tony…”

“No, don’t Tony me. It’s over. We’re done.” Peter backed up from Tony with each step he took forward, until he felt himself hit the edge of the rooftop and fall backwards. He tried to shoot webs that wouldn’t come out, and then felt his back hit the floor of a bar, back in his regular clothes, a man sitting alone at the bar.

“Peter Parker.” the man said, taking a sip of his drink.

“Who are you?” Peter asked, frustration and sadness in his voice.

“You’ll find out, soon enough.” the man turned to him, looking strikingly like Tony, brown hair pushed back, a beard nicely-kept, wearing what looked like a suit of armor with a cape attached. “It’s time for Spiderman to be done with. For good. And I am going to make sure you’re taken care of.”

“H-How do you know I’m-”

“Doesn’t matter how I know. The point is I do. I’ll be seeing you real soon.” the man stood from his barstool, looked down at Peter on the ground, and laughed almost comically evilly.

Then Peter sat up in bed in a cold sweat.

* * *

“Boss, Peter’s heart rates are approaching a dangerous level. He is also having difficulty breathing and experiencing what appears to be a panic attack, I would recommend seeing to him.” FRIDAY came on over the intercom. Tony shot straight up out of bed, leaving Pepper in bed as she called out behind him. He ran down the hall, opening Peter’s door to see him on the floor on his hands and knees, gasping for air.

“Pete, Pete, hey Kiddo, look at me,” Tony said, getting onto his knees to make eye contact with him. Peter continued to pant, heaving in and out, reaching up and grabbing the sleeve of Tony’s shirt. “Breathe, kid, just breathe for me, okay?” Tony said, trying to get him to sit down and put his back against the bed frame. Pepper came hustling in behind Tony, holding a glass of water and sitting down next to Peter on the floor, rubbing his back and trying to get him to take small sips of the water. After a couple minutes, Peter was able to get the water down in big gulps, still breathing relatively heavily. He wiped the sweat from the top of his head, as he looked at Tony, nothing but concern in his mentor’s eyes.

“To-Tony-” he gasped out, reaching out for his hand. Tony didn’t hesitate to take it, gripping it firmly.

“Breathe, kid. It’s okay, we’re here, I’m here.” Peter nodded quickly. “What happened, kid?”

Peter took in a deep breath. “Someone was…in my head. Talking to me…_messing_ with me.” Tony could see the anger start to form in his eyes.

“Hey, ease up, look at me champ, _who_ was in your head?”

“I’m not sure. He seemed familiar, but I don’t know why. But he said it was time for Spiderman to be done with for good.”

“Are you sure this wasn’t a dre-” Pepper started.

“It wasn’t a dream!” Peter snapped. Tony furrowed his brows at Peter’s outburst at Pepper, but he immediately apologized. “I’m sorry it’s just-” Peter sighed. “It wasn’t a dream. I know it wasn’t. This guy was in my head, manipulating my memories and the people I love and it was personal. He has something against me. He wants me gone. And he’s going to do it, Tony.” He looked him in the eyes, determined and only a little bit afraid. Tony looked at Pepper, who was looking at him, still rubbing Peter’s back.

“I’m not going to let that happen.” Tony stated firmly. “If any dickhead wants to get to you, they’re going to have to go through me.”

Peter looked at the clock on his bedside table. 6:37. Good enough. He struggled to stand up, legs still shaking slightly.

“I’ve got some work to do.” he grumbled, going to his closet and pulling out the suit, then storming off down the steps to the lab. Tony and Pepper could hear the lab door slam behind him, thankful they didn’t hear any shattering glass after it.

“Tony, I think maybe you should-”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll go down there.” he leaned over to her and kissed the top of her head. “Go back and get some more rest, I’ll watch him.” he stood up and extended a hand down to Pepper, who took it and let herself be helped up. He watched her leave Peter’s bedroom as he took a deep sigh and took himself down to the lab, grabbing a cup of coffee and a couple bananas on his way down.

He stopped outside the door to the lab, looking in at Peter, maps and data pulled up all around his suit, about six different web fluid beakers already made up. If he hadn’t just heard what Peter had just gone through, Tony would probably smile and think of how much Peter took after him and think of how proud he was of him. But this wasn’t the time to reminisce. It was time to get to work. So Tony opened the door and set his coffee and bananas down on the edge of the table and started pulling up different suit designs he had already made up. He was too familiar with danger. He made a promise to May the day they met he wouldn’t let Peter get hurt.

He intended to keep that promise. Come hell or high water.


	7. Starting Up Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occassionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

Tony heard a soft clang come from behind him, and he turned around to find a sleeping Peter, ruler dropped to the workbench from a limp hand. He glanced at the clock and saw the hand well past eleven at night. They’d worked the entire day without hardly any breaks, mostly in silence, aside from Peter muttering to himself one thing or another.

He sighed and collapsed his current project, making sure to save it to the Spider-Man files, then walked over to Peter, who was now snoring quietly. Just as he was about to place a hand on the kid’s shoulder, he was met with a web to the face.

“Fuck’s sake, kid!” Tony half-yelled, mostly out of surprise than anger.

“Oh my god, Tony, I’m so- I’m so sorry, hold on I can fix it, just- geez, I’m so sorry Tony.” Peter pushed things all around his desk, trying to find something or other to help get the web off Tony’s face. Meanwhile, Tony was pulling on the web and only managing to get it stuck to his fingers and palms. He felt a liquid run over the top of his head, sending a shiver down his spine, but the web fell off of him like a popsicle melting off it’s stick. He looked up to see Peter staring at him, wide-eyed and a little bit fearful of accidentally attacking his mentor. His guardian? Dad? His dude. Whatever.

Tony stared right back at him, mouth slightly agape, and let out a guffaw. Soon he could hardly contain himself, and was holding his stomach from laughing so hard, falling back onto the stool behind him. Peter joined in the laugh, and sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

Once Tony had brought his laughing to a close and wiped a tear from his eye, he looked up at Peter. “So the Spidey-sense is working, I see.” he chuckled again.

“Yeah, yeah I suppose so.” Peter snorted. “Really sorry about that. Might want to take a shower and get the deactivator off you. It starts to smell after a bit.”

Tony brought the collar of his shirt up to his nose and made a face. “Is this deactivator just raw sewage mixed with spoiled milk?” Peter chuckled slightly and shook his head. Tony smiled at him. “Let’s go upstairs. We’ll talk more tomorrow, cool?”

“Cool.” Peter nodded, stifling a yawn. He turned and gave the suit one last look before turning to the door and trudging his way upstairs. Tony took a quick look at what Peter had been working on and made a face of approval to himself. He’d taught his apprentice well as he took note of the alterations Peter had made to enhance the suit further. He grabbed the discarded cold coffee from this morning off the edge of the bench and shut off the lights as he, too, went back upstairs.

He turned into their bedroom to see Pepper reading a book under a soft light. He made his way over to kiss her head, but her stiff arm stopped him.

“Take a shower, please, you reek.” she laughed softly, closing her book and looking up at him. Tony made a pout with his lips but obliged. He peeled off his now-damp shirt as he walked into their bathroom and threw it down the laundry chute, prompting FRIDAY to start that load.

“And use extra detergent please, that thing stinks to high heaven.”

“On it, Boss.” she responded from the ceiling. Tony ran a quick shower, using the body wash three or four times to ensure the stench of Peter’s deactivator was thoroughly ridden from his body. He was going to have to make his own adjustments to that formula if only to make it smell better. Or smell like nothing, which would probably be better.

Tony came out, towel around his waist and another he was using to rub his hair dry. “I think I got rid of the smell. Kid hit me with a web to the face and to use some deactivator to get it off me.” Tony shook his head, smiling to the floor as he continued to dry his hair.

“Sounds like that went well, whatever it was you were trying to do.” Pepper said.

“Was just trying to wake him up.” Tony said matter-of-factly, going to the dresser to pull out clothes for the night. “Went to go shake his shoulder and he hit me before I even got there.” he turned to look at Pepper, who had sat up at that bit of information.

“So it’s back?” she asked. Tony nodded as he put on his pajamas, putting the towels down the chute. “Well…that’s progress, then.”

“It is.” Tony said, sliding in under the covers.

“Speaking of progress, I spoke with Peter’s school today since you have failed to return their six voicemails in the last couple days.” Pepper said curtly, watching as Tony dramatically fell back into his pillow, arm draped over his eyes. She chuckled quietly.

“What was the final verdict, my love?”

“He’s still suspended for the remainder of the initial two weeks that his principal gave him, but he’s allowed to do the Decathalon team as long as he either takes detention for the remainder of the semester or if he sees a counselor once a week.”

Tony sat up. “Neither of those sound like something Peter would be interested in doing. I mean, yes, he did punch the kid, but he didn’t start it, that Flash kid instigated it, and it’s not fair to Pete that that dic-”

“Shh, honey, you’re yelling.” Pepper whispered as she put a hand to his chest. Tony gently grabbed her hand on his chest, and bent his head down to kiss it gently as he sighed.

“I’m sorry. You just know how much that little prick bothers me. I just see it as-”

“Unfair. I know. But the principal isn’t budging on that. He may get detention for a week but it seems unlikely he’ll get any punishment. His parents have come in heavily on his behalf that he didn’t initiate anything, though I doubt the students of the school would agree.” Pepper ran her fingers through Tony’s hair as he made a face in discontent. She understood his frustration though. She wouldn’t want anyone messing with her boy and get off scotch-free either. “We can talk about it more in the morning.” she kissed his cheek and rolled over to turn her reading light off.

Just as the pair were settled in and about to drift off to sleep, FRIDAY came in through the ceiling.

“Spider on the Loose Protocol has been activated, Boss.”

Tony shot up. “Where is he?”

“Suit tracker says Queens, sir.”

“Fuck.”

* * *

Once Peter had returned to his bedroom, he practically collapsed into his bed. Mentally and emotionally he was drained, he didn’t think he could take anymore for the next few hours, not unless it was him getting some much needed rest.

He was still embarrassed from webbing up Tony’s face briefly, but in truth he was more thrilled that his Spider-sense was back. It was the first inkling that his abilities were starting to make his way back to him. He might be rusty, but rusty is better than dormant.

He drifted off to sleep quickly, thankfully for him. He was just about to enter a deep sleep when he felt his Spider-sense go off. He sat up in his bed, but something felt off about it when he opened his eyes and looked around. His room _looked_ normal, and outside the window _looked_ normal, and he _looked_ normal, but nothing _felt_ normal. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up just as a voice spoke to him.

_Peter, Peter, Peter. You weren’t supposed to go and _blab_ about all this._ The voice was the same one from the night before, though this time it came from right in front of him. Almost as quick as the blink of an eye, the man from before was sat in his desk chair, the back of the chair acting as his arm rest. Peter cocked his head at him and made a movement to stand, but couldn’t. He looked down and saw himself bound at the legs and arms to his bed, and a gag around his mouth. He looked straight ahead at the man, fear and anger in his eyes.

_Tony Stark…What can I say about Tony Stark? _The man shook his head. _He took _everything_ from me. My life’s work, taken and ruined by Tony fucking Stark._ Peter struggled against the binds that were slowly becoming tighter on him. Then Peter was moved to sitting front row at some kind of showing, Tony walking across the stage.

“Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing, or BARF- God, I gotta work on that acronym.” Time shifts around Peter, clearly forwarding to the end of this. People all around him stand up and cheer, and Peter sees a man peek out from behind the curtain at the back of the stage. The man who was sitting in front of him.

_My idea, my work, stolen from me without credit and now, not a dime to my name in the world of science and technology. I was never even given a chance to show my worth to that worthless piece of shit._ The scenery around Peter changes as they move back to his bedroom. The man now stands an inch from Peter’s face.

_But he’s going to know now_. He sneered. A puff of smoke and the man is gone, everything in his room exactly how he left it this morning, the binds around him gone and no marks left behind to show they were there. Peter stands up quickly and rubs at his wrists at the phantom pain that shouldn’t be there.

_Come and get me, Peter Parker_.

And so he does.


	8. Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occassionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

The next thing Peter knew he was standing in the middle of his old apartment. He lost track of how many days it had been since Tony had picked him up. It was starting to smell musty, and Peter confirmed that as dust collected on his finger as he ran it over the kitchen counter.

The hairs on the back of Peter’s neck stood up, and as he turned quickly he barely missed a man with a fishbowl on his head with a web, and the guy put his hands up in mock defense.

“Easy there, Peter.” he said cooly.

“Who are you?” Peter asked forcefully, staring the man down as he walked slowly around the living room. Suddenly all of his and May’s old furniture started appearing, taking their former places in the room. The man sat down on their couch, in the spot May used to sit in.

“Please, come sit down. It’s so formal standing up, I like to be comfortable.” The man sighed heavily as Peter continued to stand. “Fine. Your choice.”

“Who. Are. You.” It wasn’t a question this time - it was a demand for an answer.

“Well,” he said as he retracted whatever surrounded his head. “My friends call me Q. However, _you_ are not my friend, Peter Parker, so you can call me Mysterio.” Peter was taken aback how much he looked like Tony. In the dreams, or manipulations, whatever was happening in his head, he was never able to get a clear image of what he looked like. Just a voice. But now, Peter was caught off guard by how…_personable_ he looked. If he passed him on the street, he probably would have given him a smile. In fact, he looked more familiar than Peter liked to admit.

“What is it you want with me?” Peter asked, taking a step towards the couch. He was afraid to touch it, that it would disappear in his grasp just like his family did.

“Peter, Peter, it’s not so much what _I _want to do with you.” Mysterio rose, casually running his fingers through his hair. He did an about-face to look Peter in the eye. “It’s what I want _you_ to do with yourself.” Peter cocked his head slightly to the side, clenching his jaw. “I don’t guess you’ve seen much of the news lately.” Peter held still.

A TV appeared suddenly, a recap of footage from the last month and half or so, monsters and villains tearing through Queens, and Mysterio popping up and saving the day. Headlines reading “The End of Spider-man” were on every major news network, “A Has-Been in the World of Superheroes” printed on newspapers and magazines throughout the city.

“You see, Peter. You let down your city.” Peter looked up, trying not to let the tears in his eyes fall over. “And I stepped up. But you…” Mysterio let his head fall and shook it. “You weren’t strong enough.”

“That’s not true. I-”

“I don’t want to hear _excuses_, Peter!” Mysterio yelled. The room emptied, and he put the cover back over his head. “You’re through. If I catch you setting _foot_ inside this city, I’ll have your neck. And Spider-man _and _Peter Parker will be dead. And there will be no one there to save you.”

Peter took two steps forward and tried to shoot webs but all that came out was mist. Soon he was shrouded in it, coughing as he tried to see through the haze, but all he could feel was a tightness on his body as if he was being squeezed, and a lack of oxygen made it easy to pass out.

* * *

Tony hit the fire escape and immediately caught sight of a limp Spider-man lying on the floor.

“No no no, kid? Kid, you gotta wake up for me, come on.” Tony gently hitting the side of his face. Suddenly, Peter took a huge breath in, swinging his arms and scrambling to stand up.

“Where, where is- where did he go?” Peter forced out through deep inhales and coughs as he forced himself onto his feet.

“Pete there’s nobody here but you need to tell me what happened. You can’t just run off like that!” Tony half-yelled.

“Mysterio. His name is Mysterio.” Peter was still gasping slightly, hands on his knees. He ripped the mask off his head and threw it on the floor.

“We can talk about this at the Tower. I can not _believe_ you’d run off like that.” Tony chastised, the tone is his voice getting sterner.

“He got in my head again, Tony, he threatened you and I wasn’t going to let him get away!” Peter’s voice leaked frustration. “It's not like I couldn't handle it, I'm perfectly able to take care of myself, I mean Jesus, I’m a superhero!”

“You’re a kid!” Tony yelled.

Peter looked up at him from his bent position over his knees, and stood up fully. He stands almost six foot, but the anger in his eyes makes him seem ten feet tall.

"You are a kid, and you're running on adrenaline and acting irrationally right now because you just lost your aunt and you don't have what it takes right now, Peter, you just don't! You only barely got back your Spider-sense and you haven't gone on patrol or anything in _weeks. _You aren't ready."

Peter takes two quick strides to where Tony’s standing but he doesn’t budge. He has to look slightly up at him now, but he has to remember he’s the adult here. He’s not wrong. Peter _is_ just a kid. A kid acting compulsively and irrationally because he’s just experienced a major loss. He's only trying to do what's right.

“You…you told me I was _ready_ to be an Avenger. That I was _capable_ enough. A year and a half ago. But I _liked_ being a friendly, neighborhood Spider-man, so I said no.” Peter’s voice was scarily low. “And now. When some _psycho_ comes into my _head_ and threatens the only family I have left, I’m no longer capable?” His volume increased with each word spoken, small steps slowly backing Tony into a wall.

“Peter-”

“I thought you trusted me!” Peter laughed.

“Peter!” Tony put his arms up and gripped down on Peter’s biceps, forcing him back, unpinning himself from the wall. “Listen. To. Me.” Tony forced both of them down onto their knees, and then he saw the tears streaming down Peter’s face. “You can be mad at me. You can hate me. Hell, you can give me the silent treatment for all I care, but you _will_ listen to me right now.” He lifted Peter’s head from under his chin to look him in the eyes. “I _do_ trust you. But you don’t have to do everything alone. You’re _not_ alone, Peter.”

Peter stared at him, tears falling freely now. He gave the slightest of nods, enough to get Tony to let go of his arms, and stood up and went to grab his mask off the floor. “See you at home.” he mumbled, pulling the mask over his face and swinging back towards the Tower.

Tony sighed heavily and looked around at the desolate apartment. All the progress they had made in the last few weeks just took a major step back. He shook his head as he closed the mask around his head, told FRIDAY to let him know if Peter went anywhere that wasn't the Tower on his way home, and started flying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i've been away.  
truly very sorry, things got crazyyy and then quarantine happened, and i was working but now i'm not, which in and of itself kinda sucks, BUT it gives me a chance to write more.  
so i'm back.  
hope you're not mad.  
thank you for all the love on this fic, it really has a special place in my heart.   
much love to you all. hope you're staying healthy, safe, and happy.


	9. Stronger Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occassionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

There’s only so much Tony can do. He could see Pepper on the balcony before he even landed, wrapped up in a blanket and holding a cup. Tony came down gently, the suit folding back into the arc reactor. He looked at Pepper with sad eyes, and she looked up at him with a “What can you do?” look, then opened her arms to him. He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her onto her tiptoes and breathed in her scent.

“He loves you, Tony.” she said quietly.

“I’m not sure he does.” he whispered. He pulled back to look at her, and she brought her mug to her lips to take a sip. She offered it to him, and he took a small sip. “Is that hot cocoa?”

“Homemade hot cocoa. There’s more in the kitchen.” she nodded, taking another sip.

“It’s September.” Tony chuckled.

“Oh, I didn’t make it.” she said, turning to look at the living room. Tony let go of her waist to walk into the room, seeing Peter sleeping on the couch, an empty mug of hot cocoa sitting half on a coaster on the glass coffee table. Tony smiled down at him and mussed his hair gently so he didn’t wake him. “There’s a cup for you, too, on the counter.” Pepper whispered. Tony turned to see a mug with a little note propped on it, faint wisps of steam rising from it. He picked up the little card to see ‘Tones’ scrawled in Peter’s slanted and quick writing.

“How long ago did he get back?” Tony asked, looking at the boy from the counter, taking a gentle sip of the drink before making a face as he burned his tongue.

“Maybe 25 minutes ago? Half hour at most?” Pepper sat on a barstool across from Tony as he blew onto his hot cocoa. “He was coming in just as I was coming out to wait for you. He didn’t really say anything, just went to his room to change and then made it and put something under the mugs. Then he gulped it down and passed out on the couch. He was going to wait for you.” Tony lifted his mug up to look under it, catching sight of two small rings making a slight orange tint.

“He made these, whatever they are. This isn’t anything I’ve made.” Tony touched it, expecting to get a small burn, but felt nothing. “He’s somehow trapped the heat in the rings but it’s almost like it’s only heating the liquid without touching it, pushing heat into the mug, but the mug isn’t hot, it’s normal…” Tony looked up as Pepper cleared her throat slightly and nodding her head in Peter’s direction, who was stirring on the couch. Tony walked over quietly, expecting him to be awake, but he had just flipped onto his back, limp arm hanging over the edge of the couch and his hair flopping down into his eyes. Tony pushed it back to clear his face, and took another sip of his hot cocoa. He felt Pepper wrap her arms around his stomach, pressing a gentle kiss into his back.

“He does love you, Tony.”

“Yeah.” Tony loved him too.

* * *

When morning came, Peter was woken by a direct beam of light shining into his eyes. He groaned slightly and turned to the side, pulling his blanket up over his head and took his phone out from underneath him. 6:47 AM. He huffed and opened his texts.

_From:_ _Guy in the Chair how long til ur back?_

Frankly, Peter had no idea. He had kind of forgotten that he had been suspended.

_To: Guy in the Chair honestly no idea man. ill ask tony when i see him.   
From: Guy in the Chair mj misses you dude_

She what?

_To: Guy in the Chair really?? she said that??   
From: Guy in the Chair well not exactly. but she’s acting more moody you know. she also got detention for a week for filling flash’s entire locker with whipped cream.   
To: Guy in the Chair no way   
From: Guy in the Chair seriously dude. it was hilarious. it was right after pe so he had to wear his gym clothes the rest of the day. i have to go. ttyl   
To: Guy in the Chair see ya_

“Good morning, Peter.” Pepper said, opening a cabinet to pull out a coffee cup.

Peter poked his head out from under the blanket, sitting up enough to see Pepper putting a pot of coffee on. “Morning, Pepper.”

“How did you sleep?” she asked, keeping a careful eye on the coffee pot as it brewed.

Peter sat up and folded the blanket carefully. “Um, alright, I guess.” He stood up and walked to the bar and took a seat in one of the chairs. “Is uh, is Tony here?” he asked, head low.

Pepper poured her coffee into the mug and took a sip carefully. “He’s currently starfished across the bed. Otherwise I wouldn’t be awake.” she chuckled. “He had a long night,” she said, reaching a hand out to grab Peter’s. “but he’s not upset with you. You know he just wants you to be safe.”

Peter watched Pepper’s thumb run back and forth over his own. He felt tears brim up but forced them back. “I know. This guy just gets in my head. Literally. And I just-” he sighed. “I want to be Spider-Man. But something is holding me back and I don’t know what.” He looked up at Pepper, who had now taken both of his hands in her own.

"You are so strong, Peter." she said, giving his hands a gentle squeeze. "But you are stronger with us helping you. And that is nothing to be ashamed of."

Peter reached one hand up to wipe his eyes and then gave his hand back to Pepper. "I just need it to be normal again, Pep." he said shakily.

“You’ll get there. We believe in you.” she leaned over the bar to kiss his forehead. 

* * *

Tony stood just behind the corner rounding from the bedroom, just out of their peripheral, enough to see them both. Two happy tears rolled down his cheeks.

This was his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was feeling mushy.   
hope you all are staying happy, healthy, and safe in these uncertain times.  
sometimes all we need is a little love <3


	10. Dive Right In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occassionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

Tony faked a dramatic yawn, discreetly wiping the tears from his eyes as he entered the kitchen, plopping down next to Peter in a barstool. Peter was still holding hands with Pepper, who kept flitting her eyes between the two of them, waiting for one of them to make the first move.

Peter turned his head to look at Tony, eyes bleary and cheeks tear-stained. He opened his mouth slightly, like he was about to start a sentence, but thought better of it and pressed his lips tightly together and furrowed his brows slightly. Tony looked down at him, eyes scanning his face with concern and trying to read his thoughts. “Tony-”

Before he could get another word out, Tony wrapped his arm around his shoulder and pulled him into his side, putting the other hand on the back of his neck. A second later he felt Peter’s arms wrap around his frame and grab at the back of his shirt. He pushed his nose into the top of Peter’s head and closed his eyes, breathing him in. Then he felt another pair of arms wrap around him and could feel Pepper put a gentle kiss on his cheek. He felt Peter heave slightly as he tried to hide his crying, and Tony had silent tears rolling down his face.

“I love you.” he whispered into Peter’s hair. A hiccup and a couple of bigger heaves, a tighter grip on the back of his shirt.

“I love you. I love you I love you I love you.” Peter cried into his chest. The three of them stayed like that a little while longer, before finally pulling apart, wiping tears away from their eyes and giving a small chuckle.

“Sorry about your shirt,” Peter pointed at the tear stains on the chest. “Wasn’t expecting to cry like that.” he laughed lightly.

“Eh, it’s fine. Need to take get cleaned up anyways. And it sounds like we’ve got work to do.” Tony said, accepting a cup of coffee from Pepper.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just gonna go freshen up and then we can go downstairs.” Peter said, jogging to his room.

“And you have to tell me about those heaters you put on the mugs!” Tony called after him. Peter gave a thumbs up behind his back as he rounded the corner.

* * *

“So basically it just captures the heat of the liquid inside and circulates and concentrates it in the springs, and then it doesn’t get cold. And instead of using metal coils, I use an insulator that prevents the cup from getting hot. Seemed simple enough when I made one for May a while ago.” Peter shrugged, finishing his long-winded (even for Tony) explanation of his little contraption as they entered the lab.

“Huh. Dunno how I never thought of that before. I always forget I make myself coffee and by the time I do remember, it’s 11:45 at night and it’s been cold so long it congeals.” Tony says, remembering one incident where he accidentally drank said-congealed coffee. Both boys shuddered at the thought, and made their way to the main work bench. “So. Mysterio, huh?”

Peter nodded, a serious expression suddenly plating his face. “Mysterio. But he did say his friends call him Q. Other than that I couldn’t tell you anything other than he seemed really familiar. It was weird.”

“FRIDAY, give me everything you’ve got on Mysterio.” Tony mumbled, already pulling files up out of thin air and flicking through them as if they were physical documents and not a hologram projection. A host of videos came up, along with newspapers, articles, and other miscellaneous media. Tony watched the thumbnails of the videos, scanning them closely. “You never see his face. The hell is that _thing_ over his head?” Tony said, leaning into the thumbnail as he squinted despite having the ability to blow it up and create less strain on his eyes. Peter gave a short breathy chuckle at the sight, making a mental note to make a getting-old joke later, but cleared his throat to answer.

“I mean it looks like a fishbowl. Honestly. That’s the best way I can explain it. But I did see his face.”

“Did you have the mask on?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, of course.” Peter put the dots together as a lightbulb lit up over his head. “Hey, Karen?” he called out sheepishly. He’d never tried to talk to Karen here before.

“Hi Peter.” Karen’s voice returned. Tony was shaking his head, muttering under his breath about the name Peter had assigned to his AI.

“Hey, how are you?” he looked up at the ceiling expectantly.

“I’m good, Peter. How can I assist you?”

“I was at my apartment last night and there was a guy there. Did you get any of that on video?” he asked as he rocked back and forth on his feet, heel to toe.

“Of course. Do you want me to pull it up?”

“Yes, please, that’d be great. You’re the best, Karen.” Peter smiled as he continued to look up, as if she could see him.

“You know I am.” she chirped quietly, then went silent again.

Peter quickly scanned through the clips from each suit wear, picking last night’s footage in the apartment. He pulled it forward until Mysterio revealed his face. Peter pointed as Tony narrowed his eyes. “I was never really able to see him in my dreams or whatever, but I’ve _seen_ this guy before. Even when he sat me there in the audience of you announcing BARF that binary augmentation-”

“Binary augmented retro-framing, yeah.” Tony filled in the rest.

“Yeah that. Even when he made me sit in the audience and watch you talk about it and he was backstage, I never got a really clear visual of him, it was all very fleeting, like it was intentional almost. But I’ve seen him, somewhere, I’m just not sure where. Or when.” Peter looked over at Tony. “He said he was angry because you stole his life’s work, and didn’t give him any credit.”

Tony was silent for a moment. “FRIDAY run facial recognition on previous employees of Stark Industries.”

“Right away, sir.”

Thousands of faces quickly scanned in front of them, before zeroing in on one face. Tony blew the image up and read through the information. “Quentin Beck.” he dropped his head, giving a huge sigh. “I should have known.”

“Listen, Tones, I’m gonna need you to fill in for me here a little bit.” Peter said, finally taking a seat on the work bench.

“Beck was a former employee, and he did spend a lot of time on the BARF project, fuck I really do need a better name for that.” Tony rubbed his face. “Anyways, he worked on it in conjunction with a bunch of other guys, but he was at the lowest level of the operation, only giving ideas but not putting together the pieces or testing out the theories or anything. That mainly was run by me and a couple of other people. And when time came for a name, I came across binary augmented retro-framing in a file. I guess it was Beck’s name for it, but at that point all the paperwork had been condensed into one folder, no names attached. When I gave that presentation, he was pissed at me and told me I had taken his life’s work, and threatened me afterwards, which got him kicked out and removed from our employee list, and practically black-listed from every other industry in the country. He dropped off the Earth for a bit there, but I guess he’s back now, and keeping busy.” Tony finished with a plop down onto the workbench. “The question is, where is he getting all of the stuff to make these dream sequences possible, and how did he get powers?”

Peter nodded solemnly. “That really is the question.” He pulled some files out and put them into a folder, then made that folder a physical hologram. He laid it down then closed it, and a stupid grin came up on his face.

“What?” Tony cocked an eyebrow.

Peter cleared his throat, waved a hand over his face and put on a serious expression. He looked up at Tony, opened the file, and in his best impression voice goes, “Let’s dive right into it.” Then he broke out into a fit of laughter.

“Was that that stupid fucking Buzzfeed show you’re always watching about the unsolved mysteries?” Tony leaned back, exasperated by Peter’s laughing. Once Peter had calmed back down again, he put everything back up in front of him the way it was before.

“I’ve always wanted to do that. Ryan and Shane can’t do it with a hologram though.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> been a minute.  
sorry again. some members of my family were incredibly sick (not covid-19, thankfully) and i was kind of in charge of the household for a while there. they're better now, as am i, and i'm excited to be writing again.  
not feeling super great about this chapter but my therapist says bad words written are better than no words at all, so i will try my best to be better next time.  
hope everyone continues to stay happy, healthy, and safe. i know i'm sure trying. much love to you all.


	11. I'm Happy You're Happy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!  
this is my first fic i've ever posted and i'm very excited about it! with that being said i do appreciate feedback so please let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns, or otherwise!  
i will do my best to update at least once a week (usually on fridays), but occasionally i may throw in an extra update here and there.  
i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!

When Pepper came downstairs at around 11:30 that night, she was shocked, to say the least. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the scene laid out in front of her.

Tony was up near the ceiling, swinging his legs over the side of a web-hammock, glasses on and a cup of coffee suspended by it’s lip with another web. His hair was frazzled, like he had been running his hands through his hair all day, and he was shouting at Peter.

Peter, on the other hand, was pacing the floor in his suit, and what looked to be like VR goggles on the outside. He was shooting webs at each command from Tony, and flipping around the room as if there were invisible enemies fighting him at all angles.

“Hello?” she called, and narrowly dodged a web that shot in her direction.

“Peter!” Tony yelled, scrambling to find a way down off the make-shift hammock.

Peter ripped off the goggles and his mask in quick succession. “Oh my god, Pepper, I am so sorry I promise I wasn’t trying to-”

“It’s okay. My Spidey-senses are pretty good, too.” she winked at Peter. “I was just coming down here to tell Peter he has a meeting with his principal tomorrow morning before he goes back to school next week, so he should probably go to bed.” She made a face that reminded Peter so much of May it made his chest ache a little, and then immediately made him afraid of what would happen if he took any longer to get upstairs (just like May), so he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and called out a goodnight to the both of them as he took the stairs two at a time.

Tony came over and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead and humming gently as he smelled her shampoo. “Aren’t you working the guardian angel angle.”

“The _responsible_ guardian angel angle.” she chuckled. “You need to go to bed, too. You look like a mad scientist.”

“That’s because…I am.” Tony replied in a horrible accent, then threw Pepper over his should as she squealed. “And you’re my next experiment!” he yelled with a fake evil laugh as he carried her upstairs, Pepper fake protesting as she laughed.

* * *

Peter took the suit off in his room and stepped into the bathroom as he told FRIDAY to get the shower ready. He was sweaty from the training exercises Tony had made him do, that were specifically focused on honing in his Spidey-sense so he could differentiate reality from falsehood the next time Mysterio tried to get into his head. He hadn’t realized just how out of practice he really was, not until he got into the exercises. It took him a while to get back into the swing of things (pun intended, as Tony did make him do some practice swinging exercises in a simulation), but once they both found their groove, it was like nothing had changed in the past few months. It was just afternoon training all over again, except that it was all day, and it was specifically designed for an actual bad guy who was actually making Peter’s life more stressful than just worrying about high school.

Once the room had steamed up a copious amount, he hopped in the shower and hummed to himself as he washed his hair. He managed to get through seven and a half Childish Gambino songs before his shower got cut short.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he shut the shower off immediately. He quickly wrapped a towel around his waist, and pulled out an emergency pair of web-shooters from a hidden drawer by the sink. He tip-toed quietly out to his bedroom, senses on full alert. The only light was his bedside lamp, and he couldn’t make out anything beyond the scope of it. He turned carefully, checking all corners around him. Then he heard a noise and fired off three shots in the direction of his door.

“Dude!” Ned shrieked, the LEGO box set in his hands now covered in webs. Peter let out a huge breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and rubbed at his eyes.

“Ned? What are you doing here, dude, it’s like, midnight?” he asked, fastening his towel a little tighter as he turned on the closest light switch.

“Well, I was at MJ’s, and it’s Friday, so I figured you’d want to hang out, except you weren’t answering your phone, so I just kind of showed up and the lady in the ceiling told me I could come up so I just did, but I brought my new set for us to do.” Ned explained quickly, finishing his ramble by holding out the box.

Peter let out a breathy chuckle. “Yeah, okay, man, but only for a couple of hours. I’ve got a meeting with Morita tomorrow morning about coming back to school Monday. Let me just put on some clothes.” He grabbed the clothes he needed from the top drawer of his dresser, and changed in the bathroom, hanging up his towel on the rack after shaking his wet hair out. When he returned to the bedroom, Ned had already taken all of the pieces out of their packages and separated them by order.

“Millennium Falcon? Dude, this is _awesome_. It’s like, what, 3,000 more pieces than the Death Star?” Peter started looking over the contents of the box, his gears turning and his excitement growing.

“Yeah! It’s gonna be _so cool_. MJ was making fun of me for it, but I saw her looking over the box and stuff, so I think she was just bluffing.”

“Wait, how did you even get this? It had to be crazy expensive.” Peter looked up at Ned, who was already starting to put together some pieces.

“Well I had a lot of money saved up, you know, and this kinda put a dent in it, but it’s still plenty for college and everything, I just couldn’t wait til Christmas for this.” Ned rambled like he did when he was nervous. Peter made a mental note to do something special for him to make up for this. “But don’t worry about it, dude, if you start now instead of staring we can have it done in a couple of hours.”

The two boys went to work, laughing and catching up on the last two weeks of missed classes, missed jokes, and Flash walking around with a bunch of stuff on his face, complaining about how he had to wait for New York’s best plastic surgeon to become available for him to fix his nose.

* * *

Tony could hear them from down the hall, and although it was hindering his ability to sleep, this was one time he was okay with it. He could tell Peter was happier without even seeing his face, just the _sound_ of his laugh made it crystal clear.

It was 2:30 when FRIDAY finally alerted him that all house guests had left the premises. Tony gently got out of bed, so as not to wake Pepper, and tip-toed to Peter’s room. He stuck his head inside the door.

“Pete. You awake?”

“Yeah.” A small voice came from the dark. Tony made his way inside, careful not to trip on anything, and took a seat on the edge of Peter’s bed. He reached over to turn the bedside lamp on as Peter sat up. “Were we too loud? Sorry, I wasn’t even thinking, we should have been quieter-”

“Peter.” Tony stopped him, putting a hand on his knee. He looked straight into his eyes, traces of a smile still on the teenager’s face. Tony gave a small smile, and a slight sniffle, and damn, since when did get so emotional? He felt tears brimming up, so he wiped his eyes quickly, but he was too late. The tears fell and he could practically feel Peter’s anxiety radiating off him.

“Tony? Hey, what’s going on, why are you- what’s wrong, can I get you anythi-” Peter was cut off by a tight hug, the man laughing through his tears.

“I’m happy that you’re happy again. That’s all, kid.”

Peter was dumbstruck. “Oh.” His emotions betrayed him as well, gentle tears falling from his eyes. He wrapped his arms around Tony, gripping the back of his shirt. “Thanks, Tony.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again.  
i tried to do better this time, forgive me, cus my writing skills are a bit rusty right now and i've somehow simultaneously got writer's block and a million ideas and i'm thinking of maybe expanding my writing content to other movies/shows? who knows. procrastination is a bitch and i am just trying my best.  
the world is in a tumultuous spot right now. i hope that everyone is doing their best to contribute to the good in this world, and remembering that everyone's situation in life is unique and individual, and we can only be educated if we listen to each other's unique and individual experiences and try to learn from each other.  
please stay safe. please please please stay safe. (i say it twice, because it's important, and although i may not know you, i care about you. please stay safe.)  
i'm going to end this a bit differently than normal, with a couple of quotes i've found running through my head recently:  
"We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided." -J.K. Rowling  
"It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” -Mahatma Gandhi


End file.
